County lifts $8K from man's legal fight

Board OKs partial payment to help ease purchase of home

May 21, 2013

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Minnehaha County officials forgave a Sioux Falls man legal fees exceeding $8,000 on Tuesday to help him care for his family.

Jesse Foht, 29, has a clean slate after commissioners voted 3-1 to accept a compromise for partial payment of debts.

Foht owed the county $9,179 for legal services he received from the public defender’s office, most of it relating to an unfounded criminal charge. He offered to pay $800. Commissioners agreed and wrote off the remaining $8,379.

“Thank you,” Foht told board members after their vote.

“You’re welcome. Good luck with your family,” said Gerald Beninga, chairman of the commission.

The action was a typical item of business for commissioners, who deal with requests each week from residents seeking relief on bills they owe the county. But the amount was unusually large in Foht’s case.

Foht was charged with fourth-degree rape after an alleged incident in November 2008 and was found not guilty when the case went to trial in February 2010, said Kersten Kappmeyer, chief civil deputy state’s attorney. He also faced a charge of sexual contact with a child after the same alleged incident, but that ended in a hung jury.

He had needed previous assistance from the public defender and had made several payments totaling $1,054 to reduce his debt. Commissioners said that was a key factor in clearing his slate.

“You make a judgment and hope it works out. Certainly making payments is helpful,” Commissioner Jeff Barth said.

Barth, Beninga and Cindy Heiberger voted for the compromise. Commissioner Dick Kelly voted against it. John Pekas was absent.

“This is an attorney cost. People can’t be thinking that a public defender is a free attorney,” Kelly said.

Foht, a construction worker, was married last fall. He has four children, ages 1, 2, 6 and 8. The family lives in a trailer where he has been paying $740 a month rent. They now are trying to buy a $63,000 house where payments will be $525 a month, but he needed to be free and clear on his debt before the purchase could go forward. The family’s household income is $32,000 a year.

Barth and Heiberger said they were concerned about Foht’s children. Barth said Foht’s income and house purchase are modest. “We have to work as a community to make things as good as possible for the next generation,” Barth said.

The case represents a small piece of the $57 million in liens in Minnehaha County. Some requests for relief are rejected, while others are accepted in part, often for a few hundred dollars.

“The size of this one is a little out of the ordinary,” said Ken McFarland, commission administrative officer.